Media split on CARD Act reform

by Peter Andrew

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On Saturday, the Forbes website included a paean of praise to the Credit Card Accountability, Responsibility and Disclosure Act (Credit CARD Act) of 2009. It said legislation was "a complete success in its yet young life."

And it went on to claim that trecent research, including Center for Responsible Lending that was covered here on this credit card news blog last week, ``definitively proved that the rise in interest costs and the decline in credit availability during the past year occurred as a result of economic pressures, not the CARD Act, and thereby confirmed the most prevalent criticisms regarding the law's performance to be baseless.''

Not everyone agrees with the Forbes analysis. USA Today certainly saw things differently in a piece it ran yesterday. That accused the credit card regulation that flowed from the law of forcing issuers to target new annual fees and higher interest rates at those with less than perfect credit scores. However, it acknowledges that those with spotless credit reports are now getting some excellent deals.

Peter Garuccio of the American Bankers Association told USA Today, "when you look at the regulations, it's a net positive for consumers. But there have been some trade-offs."

Balance transfer credit cards--a resurgence

Meanwhile, Fox Business looked at the resurgence of balance transfer credit cards. Of course, these fall into the "excellent deals" category highlighted by USA Today, so applicants are likely to need respectable credit reports to get approved.

Credit cards keeping Target on target

And finally, Bloomberg is reporting remarks made by Doug Scovanner, chief financial officer of Target, in a conference call with investors last Thursday. Apparently, Mr.Scovanner ascribed much of the company's 10.5 percent growth in revenues during the fourth quarter of 2010 to its branded credit cards, which include the Target Visa® Credit Card.

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